Skip to main content

Hey all,

This is just a heads up for whoever else has one of these locomotives. I've been running my Lionel Legacy PRR E6 Atlantic #68 (6-84943) since it was delivered and everything has seemed fine. The only issue that I noticed within the past month or so was that the headlight would intermittently turn on/off as it was running, flickering even at some points. Last night, however, I heard like a clicking noise coming from the engine, particularly when I ran it in reverse. It then stalled on a switch and tripped the PowerMaster, and it took a couple of attempts of repositioning it before the PowerMaster wouldn't trip upon powering up.

When I opened up the shell I saw I think the culprit for both accounts: in the bundle of wires running along the roof of shell there was a black and red wire that were rubbing up against the flywheel. The black wire, where it was in contact with the flywheel, had its insulation completely shredded off, exposing the copper wire, while the red wire had a dark spot on it (a burn mark?). Seems reasonable to me that this was the source of the short and clicking noise. I wrapped the damaged black wire with some electrical tape and then used more tape to tape the bundle of wires to the roof of the shell. That solved both the shorting issue and the clicking noise, as I ran it extensively afterwards to test. However, now my headlight won't light....

If you've been running your model, you might want to take a peak underneath to make sure that no wires are rubbing against the flywheel.

On a related note, has anyone successfully dealt with these units wobbling? I imagine adding some weight to the front of shell would reduce that.

StephenLionel_E6_damaged_wires

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Lionel_E6_damaged_wires
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

...Another good reason NOT to build locos with the motor leaning forward into the boiler!

Not sure what you mean by 'wobble.'  You might post a video to show us what you mean.  But I would suspect the rubber tires (another pet peeve of mine), or maybe a crooked wheel or axle.  One GOOD thing about these locos, is that they have a "bottom plate."  So assuming the parts are in stock, you could order two new wheels and axles from the Lionel parts dept. to replace the existing ones.  Hopefully that will smooth it out.

Last edited by Ted S

Took a look at the bottom of my E6 and there is no obvious bottom plate; just a grease port above the gear; checked and there is a small amount of lateral movement (maybe 1/16") in the gear truck but no up and down movement; the other un-driven truck has a little more lateral movement but no up and down movement; there is a little slack between the gear on the axle and whatever drives it.

Regarding removing the shell, found a number of screws under the cab but no obvious ones in the front.  Will wait to see if Stephen can offer some photos or instructions on that.IMG_0416IMG_0415IMG_0414

Attachments

Images (3)
  • IMG_0416
  • IMG_0415
  • IMG_0414

@RickM46, Sorry for the delay, had to get home from work to snap the pic. You're right, there are a lot of screws, but you only need to remove 4: two under the fire box behind the last driver and two inside the steam chests. Concerning the former, it's the two larger screws that sit on the frame, not the smaller screws that hold the smoke on/off toggle switch; about the latter, they're inside the steam chests in that square void, if you shine a light in there you'll see them. Remove those four and then the it just lifts out. There should be enough slack with the wires to clear the shell and lay it down. Attached pic with the screws indicated.

Regarding the "wobble", it is a slight up and down bobbing motion. I did try to film a video last night but it's not that obvious on camera. There doesn't seem to be much play with the wheels/frame, in either direction, so I don't think the cause is a mechanical issue. If I lay my fingers on the top as it runs I can feel the motion, but if I then take my other hand and apply some light pressure to say the smoke stack, then the wobbling virtually vanishes. I think I recall reading similar comments to the previous releases, in that this slight up/down movement isn't inherent to this release, but I haven't had a chance yet to search the forum.

E6_shell_removal_screws

Attachments

Images (1)
  • E6_shell_removal_screws
Last edited by Slugger
RickM46 posted:

Took a look at the bottom of my E6 and there is no obvious bottom plate; just a grease port above the gear;

Your photos suggest that you're right.  However, the exploded photos of 6-84943 on the Lionel parts website suggest it's the same as mine (look at part #24):

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...1C-87CB-085D74602447

These Legacy 4-4-2 Atlantics are curious beasts.  The first Legacy version, 6-11117 Santa Fe was built like yours (and like the earlier conventional Atlantics of the mid-2000s.)  Captive axles, no bottom plate.  Mine is the 6-11225.  It has a split chassis as depicted in the link above, and you can easily remove the wheels and axles, which is my preferred design.  I guess it depends on which Chinese contractor du jour gives Lionel the low bid.  20 years from now the replacement parts situation is gonna be fun!!

I would get some new traction tires and see if that helps.  I'll be following this thread for further developments.

Last edited by Ted S

Mine is on it's way back to Lionel for a really loud growling noise and for a gallop so back it'll climb out of the rails at any normal running speed.  And mine doesn't go up and down, it's at an angle.  I messed with traction tires and it didn't help.  Neither did holding the front down.  Otherwise I liked the little engine.

Hats off to Stephen; shell came off easily; just got done examining the wires in my E6.  There was no damage to the wires above the flywheel but since I was in there, I taped them to the top of the shell as Stephen did.  Also noticed that there were some wires snug on both sides of the motor that were quite close to the flanges of the front wheels.  Taped those to the side of the motor to keep them away from the flanges.  Noticed that pesky capacitor that was missing from my Big Boy that made it run smoother - it was included on the E6.  Lastly, in the last pic, I saw that the boiler shell was made in Korea.  Tested the engine and all is well. 

IMG_0427IMG_0424IMG_0423IMG_0425IMG_0421

Attachments

Images (5)
  • IMG_0427
  • IMG_0424
  • IMG_0423
  • IMG_0425
  • IMG_0421

Hi Rick. They are pine car strip weights, available at hobby shops, Michael's  and of course Amazon.  Lead tape would be good too, perhaps even better.

As to how many, they really fit in there well and I just stacked as many as I could fit.

It always seems like just a little more weight would be perfect but filling that space really did have an affect.  I am not really sure why that is since even though the engine is back heavy, it's the rear drivers that have the traction tires, so one might think it's actually better to leave it rear heavy.  Idk.  

Even if no improvement in pulling power, for me just reducing that bobbing was key. I didn't care for that.  It ruined the illusion for me. 

My mth Atlantic is a wobbler too.  It seems that having just two rows of closely spaced drivers makes it a configuration that easily shows any front-back imbalance.

Good luck! 

Thanks Jeff!  Will take a look at the area on the back of the boiler front on my E6 (6-84942) and see how much room there is; Amazon definitely has the pine car strip weights as does Hobby Lobby; I'm not nuts about the bobbing either; I am running it on O72 but wonder how it would run on tighter O36 - maybe more bobbing?  To figure out a good weight, I guess you could tape enough over the pilot and see the effect.

sinclair posted:

Mine is on it's way back to Lionel for a really loud growling noise and for a gallop so back it'll climb out of the rails at any normal running speed.  And mine doesn't go up and down, it's at an angle.  I messed with traction tires and it didn't help.  Neither did holding the front down.  Otherwise I liked the little engine.

Sinclair, keep us up on the issue!

Slugger posted:. However, now my headlight won't light....

If you've been running your model, you might want to take a peak underneath to make sure that no wires are rubbing against the flywheel.

On a related note, has anyone successfully dealt with these units wobbling? I imagine adding some weight to the front of shell would reduce that.

Stephen

Stephen, any success with the headlight?  I see on the parts diagram that it looks like the headlight is part of the boiler front:  https://www.lionelsupport.com/...1C-87CB-085D74602447

Add Reply

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×